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I first tried salvia back in 2009 when I was 18. I was living in a boiler room in SF that had been converted into a livable space that included a stove/oven refrigerator, bathroom and bunk beds. At the time of taking the salvia I was with my GF who was sitting to my right on the bottom bunk of one of the sets, two other people, Brian and AJ were with us. Brian was standing in front of me leaning against the stove while aj stood to my right leaning against another bunkbed. I had never seen a youtube video of salva use at the time, I had learned of salvia at Golden Gate park. Someone had some and dosed a few people. I was offered some but was intimidated by the thought, it gave me anxiety because the only time I had ever "tripped" was with mushrooms and it was bad. A few hours of feeling piss drunk and anxious while my vision kept looking like a painting that someone wiped their hand over to the side, smearing everything.
I packed the bowl and hit it like weed. It was bitter but not unpleasant, the single thing that stood out about salvia to me was the smell. Salvia smells like Hay and reminds me of being a kid at a pumpkin patch. I held it in for a time (I don't count) and let it go. I was looking around and nothing changed until everything did. I can't remember the exact moment when the salvia hit me but the first thing I could comprehend was falling down, through a tube made out of the blanket I had been sitting on. I could feel the blanket on the sides of my arms and my face and legs. moving blanket was all I could see. I wasn't afraid or feeling anything negative, the feeling was like I had done this a thousand times and was just doing the motions, almost monotonous like going to work in a cubicle. Just as suddenly as I found myself in the blanket tube I was out of it and still in free fall. Everything was grey and direction/orientation didn't exist. All I had was grey. Suddenly, violently I hit ground I didn't see. My body splintered like wood with my arms and legs breaking and everything else being demolished into wood chips and sticks and flying all over the floor. The floor was cracked smooth cement, the exact floor from the moscone convention center in SF (Where I worked). The cement floor was so massive that whatever structure it was a part of wasn't visible, it was like a smooth cement plain that went on forever into grey mist. As I felt myself as every splinter and chip I could still see and I saw people. Lots of people. All of the people walking out of the mist were dressed the same orange rain overalls with suspenders and short sleeved dark blue t shirts. they walked into view and started picking up all the pieces then started putting me back together. I could feel what each splinter felt as it was picked up and handled between fingers simultaneously with all the pieces. All this happened with no words and no movement on my part. I never tried to move because I felt like if I did I would misalign myself with the experience like a square piece thats supposed to go into a perfect fit square hole but the holder of the stick was off with his push so the edge of the square stick got stuck on the edge of the hole preventing what needs to happen from happening.
At the last moment of the trip I was me again and the people were gone. I was alone in the seated position with no chair. Alone in the grey, but I knew it wouldn't last. Out of the grey five squares appeared around me and moved in. The got closer and closer until all I could see was black, but what I felt was something else. I couldn't see it but I knew that the squares had been the reverse sides to the four walls and ceiling of the boiler room because I felt them move through me and each other until I found myself in a tight space expanding outward which turned out to be the interior of the boiler room. The room locked into place but the floor was still the grey smooth cement and my GF was CARDBOARD! I looked to my right and it was her profile on a cardboard cutout with cardboard arms bolted on and no legs just a metal pole jutting out from the bed. It was like there was a machine in the bed that was moving the pole back and forth while her arms and jaw moved like an animatronic mascot. I put my hands on the cutout and felt the edge of the cardboard and stood up. When I stood up my GF was back and so was everyone else. My body felt like it was a giant machine that thousands of people were operating via pulleys and ropes and random mechanical processes when I realized I was pretty much back. All that I had just seen and felt plus what I was still feeling made me start jogging in place like an excited kid on christmas morning while saying
While ineloquently stated it summed up what I was feeling perfectly at the time.holy shit I'm tripping balls, oh my god I'm tripping balls, what the fuck dude Im tripping balls
Since my initial experience I have used only the extracts, many times.....
First Plant
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After using salvia 2-4x per year for a few years I decided to make the commitment and get a live plant since I like it so much.
I placed an order with arena ethnobotanicals on may 3rd of this year (2015), I received the plant a few days later and by late june the tiny slightly withered cutting was back to its full glory (Minus a few damaged bits).
- 6/18/15
When I received the plant it was a little withered and had some black splotches but they went away and the leaves rejuvenated in a day. (Splotches took a few weeks to clear) I kept the plant in the container I received it in for about a week before moving it to its permanent pot. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the state I received her in since I wasn't thinking about it back then.
I use Foxfarm ocean forest soil for all my plants so thats what I used when I planted my salvia. For fertilizer I use B1 Plant Starter (Ive used it for years as my main fertilizer, I don't think it matters). I water daily and once a week my salvia gets the used water from my beta fish tank when I do changes. I live in the bay area (Central California) so the weather is great for salvia, Sometimes a bit hot but I just keep her out of direct sunlight and if it gets too cold I can just put her in the shed for the nights.
June 2015
- 6/18/15 whole life ahead of her
- 6/18/15 New growth
- 6/18/15 Slight damage
- 6/18/15 Slight damage
- 6/18/15 Slight damage
- 6/18/15 Slight damage
August 2015
- 8/27/15 My how she's grown!
- Now thats a leaf
September
After the pictures I had taken in august I trimmed the leaves
- 9/19/15
- Top Down
- Over a foot
- Other way
- The nubs eventually twist themselves shut.
Cuttings
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I made a few cuttings awhile back, maybe a month ago...
The first 3 were successful and are rooted and happy
Im iffy about the future of the first
The first was an experiment, I used soil from my backyard which is mostly clay. I broke up the clay and mixed in a little topsoil. I know salvia like loamy soft soil but I was curious to see if it could tough it out. I put the cutting in a glass of water and changed it daily for about 3 weeks until I saw roots then planted it.
- 9/19/15 In clay
- 3 and 1 half inches
Don't be fooled, that clay has re solidified and is hard as a rock
My other successful salvia plant went straight into the ground once I saw the one in clay was fine. This time however I dug a hole about a foot deep and a foot wide and filled the hole with soil, then planted the salvia so the roots have room to form and get strong before hitting clay.
- Almost 7 inches.
- 9/19/15
My third rooted Salvia plant is the smallest I've attempted and it worked out fine. Don't be fooled by its size, its well rooted.
To date I've only lost one cutting and have attempted 7 in total including the three below that are in the rooting process.
I always do it the same way, cuttings sit in plain tap water changed once a day until roots are not only visible but a decent length. Sometimes the stalk goes a bit black but it usually recovers, only one was completely overtaken by darkness.
- Stalk on the left
So thats progress so far, I plan to use my entire property for salvia and once I have enough (Im going to use an old fish tank and really ramp up clone production) I plan to plant it all over the bay area so it can grow wild.
Jimmy Salviaseed I guess.